“My lords,” said Garranon, his face a blank mask I recognized from court. “Jakoven has successfully tested the Bane—I think that there will be no need for dragons and dead men to convince my fellow Oranstonians that it is a threat that needs to be fought.”

“What happened?” asked Haverness.

“Yesterday afternoon,” said Garranon, “my wife took my son and a few guardsmen to check on outlying farms. When they got back to the keep, everyone was dead.”

“Every armsman on the wall, every servant in the hall, every horse in its stall,” said Allysaian in a monotone, the rhyme adding an eeriness to her quiet words. I saw her knuckles whiten on Garranon’s arm. “All the plants were withered and dead.”

Alizon looked at Haverness, who was shaking his head in disbelief, though the expression on his face argued that he was reconsidering even as he shook his head.

“Gods,” said Duraugh. “I’m sorry, Garranon.”

“How much blood does he have left? Could he get power from all that death, Oreg?” I asked Oreg quietly.

“I don’t know,” he replied, his arms wrapped around his middle as if he’d been punched in the stomach. I wondered what I’d feel right now if I’d already witnessed the Bane destroy civilization once. “I don’t know how much it takes to use the stone. I would guess it would take more because the blood is impure. But he may have found someone else of Hurog blood to use. As for the other, he can’t power the stone with death magic, but he certainly could gain power himself. I doubt it in this case, because it usually takes some sort of ceremony and the bodies collected. It would have taken days, not hours.”

Garranon turned to Oreg, apparently having overheard—and the eyes in his blank face were wild with rage. “How close would he have to be to use it?”

Oreg shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. I was in Hurog while the world fell, but I was young and . . . it was not a pleasant time. My memories of the Fall of the Empire are not entirely intact.”

Alizon and Haverness turned to stare at Oreg.

“At this rate there won’t be a soul in the Five Kingdoms who doesn’t know Hurog’s secrets, Oreg,” I said, exasperated.

He turned to me, his eyes caught in the past, and said in an abject voice I’d hoped never to hear from him again, “I’m sorry, my lord.”

I shook my head. “No matter, Oreg. It’s your secret to keep or not.” I looked at Alizon. “I mean that. You’ll have to askhim about it—later.”

Garranon swung abruptly to Alizon. “This gives you the attack you claimed you needed to pull Oranstone together. I hope that my people’s deaths buy Jakoven’s destruction.”

“Kellen will see to it,” Alizon promised.